4D3N Trip to KL, Malaysia and Singapura (Day 3)

(Day )August 23, 2015
Whole Day City Tour - Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the Capital City of Malaysia, its current population is 28 Million.  Malay is the national language but English is widely spoken.  Malaysians also speak various languages and dialects.  Another blooper from our group: we assumed that the meaning of "Selamat Detang" is "Thank You" since "Salamat" in Filipino means "Thanks".  "Selamat Detang Malaysia" actually means "Welcome to Malaysia!"

Our Sunday started with buffet breakfast at Metro Hotel to prepare for our whole day KL CITY tour.  We have a D-I-Y Itinerary for the City Tour which looks like this:-)  

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015(MALAYSIA) - KL City Tour

4:00  AM                 CALL TIME (PREPARATION, BREAKFAST)

5:OO AM                 JUMP OFF TIME (NO WAITING)

   

*BATU CAVES (OPENS FROM 6AM TO 9PM)

*KUALA LUMPUR RAILWAY STATION

* MERDEKA SQUARE, KUALA LUMPUR CITY GALLERY, SULTAN ABDUL SAMAD BUILDING, JAMEK MOSQUE, KL LIBRARY, TEXTILE MUSEUM, NATIONAL MUSIC MUSEUM

*PETALING STREET (CHINA TOWN, CENTRAL MARKET, JALAN PETALING)

*MENARA KUALA LUMPUR TOWER      (OPENS 9:00 AM TO 10:00 PM)

*PETRONAS TOWER (OPEN AT 9:00 AM TO 9:00PM), KLCC PARK

*COCOA BOUTIQUE (9:00 AM TO 6:00 PM), MALAYSIA TOURISM CENTRE

*THEAN THOU TEMPLE (OPENS AT 9:00 AM TO 6:00 PM)

*ISTANA NEGARA (ROYAL KING’S PALACE)

7:00 PM   DINNER & EXPLORING BERJAYA TIMES SQUARE, BUKIT BINTANG

8:00 PM ONWARDS EXPLORING KUALA LUMPUR AT NIGHT (WHEREVER OUR FEET WILL LEAD US)

 

But you know how most of the time we don't actually follow the itinerary to the letter.  After breakfast, our group decided that we will take the train to Batu Caves since it is the farthest in our Itinerary.  However, the Filipino staff from the Hotel Tour/Van Rental offered a good rate at MYR 40 each to cover for van rental and an impressive tour itinerary of the sights in KL including tour guide free of charge.  When everyone from the group agreed to go, we hopped on the van and off we go to our first destination.

First Stop:

1. The New Royal King's Palace (Istana Negara)

"Istana Negara" means "National Palace"

Kuala Lumpur's New Royal King's Place serves as the official residence of the Supreme King of  Malaysia.  The King relocated to this newly-built Istana Negara in 2011.  While you can't enter, it is possible to see the beautiful architecture of the King's Palace from afar and watch the hourly changing of the guards.

According to our Tour Guide, "Alex" if the yellow flag is hoisted up, it means the King is inside the Palace.  During our visit, the guards standing near the gates had a short formation to honor the Queen on board her official vehicle, as she was about to exit the Palace.

Hubby and me with the Honor Guard at the New Royal King's Palace

 

Spot the difference!

Group photo in front of Istana Negara

 

Our wacky group photo

After the above photo was taken, we were ushered to the sides of the gate as the Queen is about to leave the Palace.

2. War Remembrance/Memorial/KL National Monument

The National Monument was built in remembrance of the brave soldiers who died fighting for the independence of Malaysia.  It is walking distance from the famous Lake Gardens of Kuala Lumpur.  The historic sculpture has also marked its place in the book of records for being the tallest freestanding group of bronze sculptures.

Another group pic taken by our Tour Guide "Alex"

Our Tour Guide is a funny guy, he speaks a little bit of "Tagalog".  Apparently, the Filipino staff at the Hotel is his wife.  That is probably the reason why they gave us a good rate!

 

Someone's mobile phone went missing after this photo was taken.  Eventually Cha found it herself, she accidentally left it on the floor :-D

Hubby and moi with our neighbor April

Group photo before we go back to our van

3. KL City Gallery/Merdeka Square

KL City Gallery provides an overview of Kuala Lumpur's past, present and future through a collection of prints, miniatures and photographs.  It also features a presentation of an impressive scale model of KL City.


I appreciated this part of the tour as it gave us a sort of overview of the City of KL before exploring it real time:-)

A miniature scale model of KL City at the KL City Gallery

 

Selfie pa more!

Amazing KL City Scale Model

We paid MYR 5 each as Entrance Fee and the same stub was used as discount at the souvenir shop before we exited the Gallery.  Hubby and I bought our souvenir I love KL shirts here.

4. Visit to St. John's Cathedral

St. John's Cathedral

Since it was a Sunday, our TG allowed our group to visit St. John's Cathedral.  On the way to the church, we noticed a lot of Filipinos selling various "Pinoy" food stuff at the street leading to St. John Cathedral. Our TG managed to purchase a pack of Spanish Bread which he shared to our group including the Driver, "Uncle Sam".

5. Visit to the Leather Factory

We were all amazed at the quality of the leather products, however, keeping it real, ATM, we can't afford its steep price :-/

 

Real leather used for bags, wallets and shoes

W.S." Window Shopping it is

 6. Visit to Chocolate Kingdom

I personally love the smell of chocolate here! Chocolate Kingdom, indeed!  We tried their cold cocoa drink at MYR 5 each, it tasted great!

We also witnessed a short presentation on the process of making Chocolate.  The good thing is that the Entrance Fee is Free! We were also able to avail of sample and "free taste".  I really enjoyed the taste of chocolate with durian and strawberry flavors :-D
 

The lady in black showed us the process of making Chocolate

7. Visit to Chocolate Gallery

Chocolate Gallery is a bit smaller than Chocolate Kingdom.  A group of Chinese Tourists were already inside the shop when we arrived.  Hence, the place was a bit crowded.  So we settled for photo ops outside the store.

Goofing around with April, Koji and Mama Jo

April and moi

8. PETRONAS Twin Towers

Petronas Twin Towers or the Twin Skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur is a world-renowned icon of Malaysia.  Standing at a height of 451.9 meters, this gleaming structure of steel and glass is one of the world's tallest buildings.

You can visit the Sky Bridge on the 41st Floor and the Viewing Deck on the 86th Floor, however, you must purchase your tickets on line ahead of time.

We visited the Twin Towers twice, during the day tour with our Tour Guide and then at night during our D-I-Y Tour right after we strolled at Chinatown and Central Market.

Thanks Kai for this pic:-)

Our group taking photos of the Twin Towers at night

9. BATU Caves

Batu Caves is a limestone hill with a series of caves and cave temples in the Gombak District, about 13 kilometers North of Kuala Lumpur. It is said to be 400 million years old.  One of the most popular Hindu Temples outside of India.

Hubby, Kai, Koji and I conquered the 272 steps to reach Batu Caves!  Meeting some monkey friends along the way and taking a number of selfie while we catch our breath! We did it!!!

10. BERJAYA Times Square

Berjaya Times Square is a 48-storey shopping center complex.  Since it is walking distance from our hotel, this is where we spent most of our food trips :-) The Imbi Station of the Monorail is also connected to this mall complex.

Monorail and Berjaya Times Square

11. Chinatown/Petaling Street
 

I'm proud to say our group survived Chinatown!  It's noisy, most of the time the sellers speak in Filipino, I'm not sure if it is kinda' mocking us Filipinos or what.  I didn't like it.  

We proceeded to the Central Market after our short trip to a Western Union Branch to have our Peso changed to MYR.

We saw this temple on our way to Chinatown

12. KL Central Market

April and me @ Central Market!!

Our group photo courtesy of a random stranger

(MRT Pasar Seni/Central Market)

Central Market is an enclave for arts and crafts.  Imho, it is a much better version of the Chinatown Market.  We bought souvenir key chains, business card holders, shirts and Chocolates here!


We went back to Bukit Bintang and found a luggage for our little one, roughly it costs PhP 600! It is a good buy!



After we strolled Bukit Bintang, we lounged at the lobby when we reached the hotel...

We were sooo tired, hehehe!

I must say we really made the most of our day tour here in KL.  We loved every minute of it!

Till our next lakwatsa!

XOXOXO,

Lakwatsera 2015